Former press secretary Michael Forbes was investigated by police for covertly recording audio of sessions with sex workers. Photo: LinkedIn/Michael Forbes
The deep-dive prompted by the scandal surrounding ex-Beehive press secretary Michael Forbes has "largely concluded", but questions remain over what will be made public and when.
In June, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon asked Ministerial Services - which is run by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) - to look into whether the vetting and information sharing process were robust enough.
It followed revelations Forbes had covertly recorded audio of sessions with Wellington sex workers, and had intrusive photos of women on his phone.
Police investigated the allegations in July last year, but ultimately opted not to charge Forbes.
Despite that, the Beehive was never informed, despite Forbes having security clearance to work there.
The incidents occurred after Forbes was vetted to work for Social Development Minister Louise Upston, but before he started working in the prime minister's office at the start of this year.
Luxon said Forbes "had the vetting that he needed to come into the Beehive" but wanted to know what could have been done differently. He said it was incumbent on Forbes to raise the matter, which he had not.
Luxon ordered the DIA to conduct a "deep dive" investigation into its vetting processes to see what could have been done differently.
In June, the DIA said its investigation would look into "employment and device policies, procedures and information sharing practices," adding the deep dive was expected to conclude in August.
On Friday, a DIA spokesperson told RNZ it had largely concluded the "initial phase" of its work and would be sharing the information with partner agencies.
"We anticipate this will take some weeks. Following that engagement, we will be in a place to determine what further information can be shared."
After the scandal broke, the DIA said all Ministerial Services staff were subject to standard pre-employment checks, including reference checks, serious misconduct checks and a criminal conviction check when first employed, but this was not required when Forbes was temporarily assigned to the Prime Minister's office.
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